IDFA to Fete Artist, Filmmaker Johan Grimonprez

Belgian artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, whose “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” won an award at this year’s Sundance, will be the guest of honor at the 37th edition of IDFA.

The documentary festival, which will take place from Nov. 14 to 24, has also unveiled curated program Dead Angle and Spotlight on Cuba, which focuses on the island’s cinema, alongside live cinema section IDFA on Stage and new media program IDFA DocLab.

IDFA will highlight Grimonprez’s “uncompromising approach to challenging narratives and reinterpreting historical events through a critical, contemporary lens,” the festival said.

Grimonprez first gained international acclaim with his 1997 film “Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y,” which examined the history of airplane hijackings and the media’s role in shaping public perception. His most recent film, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” unravels the decolonization of Congo, using jazz as a “means of protest” in the examination of the international context behind the 1961 murder of Congo’s prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.

The film premiered in the World Cinema – Documentary section of Sundance this year and won the special jury award for cinematic innovation.

Both films will be shown at IDFA. Other films screening will be “Double Take” (2009), “Shadow World” (2016), “Blue Orchids” (2017) and others.

The festival said: “With this retrospective, IDFA invites audiences to discover and reflect on Grimonprez’s singular exploration into the development of present-day media, from how world crises are represented to our own relationships to these platforms and technologies.”

An extended conversation with Grimonprez will be a centerpiece of this year’s edition.

This year, IDFA will introduce a multi-year curated program called Dead Angle. The program uses documentaries as “a torch to illuminate the dark corners of our awareness,” the festival said. “This year’s program delves into the complex symbolism of borders, exploring them not just as physical barriers, but as profound metaphors for identity, community, and the human condition.”

Among confirmed titles in this section is “The Great Wall” by Tadhg O’Sullivan, an essay film that maps the borders around Europe in light of the migration crisis, based on a short story by Franz Kafka. In “Route 181, Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel” by Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, the Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers travel along the 1967 partition lines that divided Palestine, exploring “how people evoke the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors.”

“By reflecting on how documentary filmmakers approach these simple yet complex territorial perimeters, the program will invite the audiences and artists to engage in meaningful discussion and nurture critical awareness,” the festival said.

The first nine titles in the program have been announced; the complete list of selected titles will be confirmed on Oct. 15.

In a dedicated program of 19 films, Spotlight on Cuba will examine the complex political history of Cuba. Included will be a retrospective of the pioneering Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gómez, and a curation of films made by students of the EICTV (the international film and TV school of San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba).

“The program will explore the paradoxes of our perception of Cuba as both revolutionary utopia and dystopia. The program also offers a glimpse into the ways these students exercise artistic freedom in one of the world’s most distinguished film schools,” the festival said.

The 19 titles that make up the program have been announced.

The IDFA on Stage section is a boundary-breaking, interdisciplinary program of live cinema events, bridging film, new media and the performing arts. Highlights include two projects presented together with IDFA DocLab: the innovative performance “Thanks for Being Here” by Belgian theater group Ontroerend Goed, presented together with De Brakke Grond, and live performance “Drinking Brecht” by New York and Istanbul-based artist Sister Sylvester that puts microbiology into the mix.

The full program for IDFA on Stage will be announced in October.

The 18th edition of IDFA’s pioneering new media program, IDFA DocLab, has confirmed the first titles set to premiere at an immersive documentary art exhibition, this year presented at De Brakke Grond, ARTIS-Planetarium, and the newly added location, Droog.

These first announced titles are the works of the four winners of the Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant, ranging from augmented reality apps to immersive installations.

The full IDFA DocLab program selection will be announced in October.